Tsarnaev died last month after a gunfight with authorities a few days after the deadly marathon bombing.

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Police have said he ran out of ammunition before his younger brother dragged his body under a vehicle while fleeing the scene.

Tsarnaev's family was making arrangements for his funeral as investigators searched the woods near a college attended by his younger brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, on Friday.

Tamerlan's brother Dzhokhar was captured by police. Photo: Reuters

The funeral parlour in Worcester is familiar with Muslim services and said it will handle arrangements for Tamerlan Tsarnaev, whose body was released by the state medical examiner on Thursday night.

The body was taken initially to a different funeral home, where it was greeted by about 20 protesters.

Tsarnaev died three days after the bombing in a furious getaway attempt in which authorities say he and his brother Dzhokhar, ethnic Chechens from Russia who came to the United States about a decade ago, killed an MIT campus police officer and tossed homemade bombs and grenades at police.

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, ran over his brother's body as he drove away from the scene to escape, authorities have said.

Meanwhile, two US officials said Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told interrogators that he and his brother initially considered setting off their bombs on July Fourth.

Boston police said they planned to review security procedures for the Independence Day Boston Pops concert and fireworks display, which draws a crowd of more than 500,000 annually and is broadcast to a national TV audience.

Authorities plan to look at security procedures for large events held in other cities, notably the massive New Year's Eve celebration held each year in New York City's Times Square, Massachusetts state police spokesman David Procopio said.

As part of the bombing investigation, federal, state and local authorities have been searching the woods near the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth campus, where Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was a student.

Christina DiIorio-Sterling, a spokeswoman for US Attorney Carmen Ortiz, couldn't say what investigators were looking for but said there was no threat to public safety.

Badly injured Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, found hiding in a tarp-covered boat in a suburban Boston backyard, faces a charge of using a weapon of mass destruction to kill.

Three of his college classmates were arrested on Wednesday and accused of helping after the bombing to remove a laptop and backpack from his dormitory room before the FBI searched it.

The April 15 bombing, using pressure cookers packed with explosives, nails, ball bearings and metal shards, killed three people and injured more than 260 others near the marathon's finish line.